call: http://www.evolutionaere-zellen.org/start/index.html

[claudia westermann]

http://www.evolutionaere-zellen.org/start/index.html

»How do you creatively shape your society?«

evolutionäre zellen 2004
a competition with 10,000 Euro in prize money

The competition »evolutionäre zellen 2004«, 
endowed with 10,000 Euro in prize money, is 
looking for groups, organizations, companies and 
individuals who are opening new doors in actively 
and creatively shaping society.
The deadline for entries is October 1, 2004.

The desire to change the societal state of being 
with new ideas is not always easy; it is often 
met with initial resistance, and confronted with 
the question as to which form an idea should 
assume in order to be convincing to others while 
still satisfying one's own expectations. 
Accordingly, new ideas and social alternatives 
are first developed and tested in smaller 
contexts, in the form of societal models, islands 
or »evolutionäre zellen« (evolutionary cells).

Posing the question »How do you creatively shape 
your society?«, the competition addresses persons 
from all fields and professions, amateurs or 
professionals, who are actively contributing to 
the shape of their social environment.

The competition is looking for:



*

Contributions, which address societal grievances 
and offer new approaches through constructive, 
innovative rethinking and abstraction of given 
conditions.



*

Contributions from autodidacts and »professional 
dilettantes«, taking an individual and creative 
approach to developing new or alternative social 
structures in order to express their needs and 
convey their reflections and so to further 
encourage innovative and critical thinking.



*

Contributions in which ideas are united with 
unusual, innovative forms of implementation, 
mediation and representation, creating 
opportunities for further development of society.



*

Contributions, which encourage or demand 
reconsideration of current societal and cultura 
conventions.l



*

Contributions, which draw attention to exemplary forms of designing society.



*

Contributions, which do not exemplify any given 
theory, but rather present exemplary cases of 
societal reality.




The Jury

The jury is made up of individuals and 
representatives of groups who, through their 
ideas and methods, are committed to the 
self-initiated shaping of social perspectives.



*

»Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre«



*

»Sportsfreunde Rüsselsheim«/»Liste Rüssel«



*

»Kunstsportgruppe Umgehungstechnik«



*

Martin Fritz, Leiter des »Festival der Regionen«



*

Veronika Kaup-Hasler, Leiterin des Festivals »Theaterformen 2004«



*

»Hanau selber kaufen«, eine Initiative der 
»Internationalen Ärzte für die Verhütung des 
Atomkrieges und in sozialer Verantwortung e.V«



*

»Weser 5«, Evangelische Diakonie Frankfurt am Main



*

Netzwek Recherche e.V.



*

»finger - Verein zur Förderung der Gesellschaftsgestaltung e.V.



*

Geschäftsführer der Jury: Dr. Michael Fehr, 
Direktor des Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum, Hagen




The jury will present itself on June 19, 2004 in 
the context of the festival »THEATERFORMEN/ 
REpublicACTION« in Hannover, as well as during a 
symposium at the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende 
Kunst e.V. from September 5 ®¢ 7, 2004 in Berlin.

What makes »evolutionäre zellen« from the most 
diverse areas of life important for society are 
their methods for the evaluation of everyday 
situations free from existing conventions, 
leading to new interpretations of conditions and 
the development of alternative strategies of 
action. By linking creative ideas with 
exceptional forms of implementation, mediation 
and representation, attention can be directed to 
an individual or collective concern. As a result, 
new mental fields for potential or concrete 
change are created, which are not restricted to 
the agent.

The goal of the competition »evolutionäre zellen« 
is to collect self-initiated, society-shaping 
ideas and projects and to create a forum for 
their representation and mediation. In addition 
to the juryÕs exemplary selection, the 
competition »evolutionäre zellen« is committed to 
portraying the entire spectrum in which 
self-initiated social design can be found today.

The competition project makes possible the 
placement of diverse forms of shaping society in 
a common context, in order to reveal their 
influence as an impetus and as factors of 
cultural relevance, so creating an overview of 
current commitment.

General:

The first call for entries in a competition on 
the subject of designing society was made in 2002 
by finger, as a workgroup of the Neue 
Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst e.V. A total of 
312 international contributions were received. In 
presenting these very diverse approaches to 
creatively shaping society to the public, finger 
uses several different media, including 
exhibitions, website, publications, etc.

The entries to the regularly recurring 
competition have been compiled into a public 
archive of »evolutionäre zellen«, which is 
conceived as an independent source of 
information, beyond established ideologies and 
points of view. The contributions collected here 
are intended to enable conclusions to be drawn 
about the current situation of society and its 
development. In this way, a broad public can be 
provided with possibilities for orientation in 
the present, encouraging the development of new 
fields of action for the future.

All contributions received in the context of the 
current competition »evolutionäre zellen 2004« 
are to be exhibited at the Karl Ernst Osthaus 
Museum in Hagen from December 10, 2004 to January 
30, 2005. A publication in the form of a 
»handbook« on designing society is planned.

The competition is organized by »finger ®¢ Verein 
zur Förderung der Gesellschaftsgestaltung e.V.«, 
in cooperation with the Karl Ernst Osthaus 
Museum, Hagen, THEATERFORMEN 2004/ REpublicACTION 
(*) and the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst 
e.V. (NGBK), Berlin.

The entry forms are also available by sending a 
stamped, self-addressed envelope to:


* finger e.V
* »evolutionäre zellen« c/o Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum
* Hochstraße 73 * D 58095 Hagen